Anna Grace Morgan goes from Spartan to Commodore

Morgan, flanked by her father, John Morgan, and mother, Desiree Morgan, signed a letter of intent to run cross-country and track and field at Vanderbilt University during a ceremony held in the MBHS library April 14.

Mountain Brook High School senior Anna Grace Morgan was raised a Spartan. In the fall, she’ll become a Commodore.

Morgan signed her letter of intent to run cross-country and track and field at Vanderbilt University on April 14 during a ceremony held in the MBHS library.

She is the third Morgan sibling to commit to an NCAA Division I institution for distance running. Her sister, Madeline Morgan, competed at Duke University, and her brother, Jack Morgan, competed at Furman University. Both graduated from Mountain Brook — Madeline Morgan in 2009 and Jack Morgan in 2011.

“A year ago if you had asked me, I probably wouldn’t have thought I was going to be D1,” Anna Grace Morgan said. “It’s crazy now that I am signing D1 as the third Morgan athlete.”

She’s earned it.

Anna Grace Morgan won the 2016 Class 7A state cross-country championship last November in a 5K meet-record time of 17 minutes, 46.01 seconds. It was the first individual state title of her six-year varsity career, and it marked her first-ever sub-18:00 performance.

She posted races of similar magnitude at the state indoor track and field meet in February. Morgan won the 1,600-meter run in 4:59.96 and the 3,200-meter run in 10:58.97. She had never previously broken 5:00 in the 1,600 or 11:00 in the 3,200.

She can credit persistence as a key to her breakthroughs.

“I think the biggest thing that people take away from her is her dedication and her hard work,” said Mountain Brook head cross-country and track and field coach Michael McGovern. “She’s always willing to do a little bit extra.”

Colleges took notice. After the cross-country season, Morgan said she whittled her list of potential schools down to two. Vanderbilt and Northwestern University made the cut.

Visits to each campus helped her finalize the decision.

“Within a week and a half or two weeks of going to Vanderbilt, I just knew that was the place for me,” Morgan said. “There’s amazing team chemistry there, and everyone I met was so incredible.”

Morgan will join a Commodore women’s distance program that earned a top 25 national ranking in cross-country last fall. Vanderbilt missed qualifying for the 2016 NCAA championships by one spot at the regional meet.

Morgan is accustomed to team success. In her time at Mountain Brook, she helped propel the Spartans to five straight state cross-country championships from 2011 to 2015.

“I’m not sure I can put it all into words,” McGovern said after the ceremony. “I mean, literally watching her grow up and be an All-State athlete for six years, it’s really amazing.”

Morgan’s academic credentials are equally as impressive. A standout student, she scored a 34 on the ACT college entrance exam and was a National Merit Semi-Finalist.

Morgan is the second Spartan distance athlete this year to sign with a Southeastern Conference program. Griffin Riley inked with Ole Miss in November.

“I’m so excited,” Morgan said. “I think it’s going to be really hard, but I also think that it’s going to be a really good experience for me.”